When were spoons invented and why do people fart? Try our kids’ quiz

1. James, 3, asks: when were spoons invented?

   1. During the Roman empire

   2. The Victorian era

   3. The Ancient Egyptian era

   4. During the Renaissance in Italy

2. Leela, 8, asks: how do cells double?

   1. They suck in extra blood until they split into two

   2. Two cells partner up and make baby cells, which look exactly like their parents

   3. They split in two, then each half grows to become a whole

   4. One cell copies its chromosomes to make a “daughter cell”, then splits into two identical cells

3. Erin, 10, asks: why are they called goosebumps?

   1. Under a microscope, the shape of the bump looks like a tiny goose

   2. When you get goosebumps, your skin looks like goose skin after its feathers are plucked

   3. When geese are flying together, they look like the shape of a bump

   4. Because geese often bump into each other

4. Barnaby, 7, asks: who invented football and when?

   1. King Henry VIII, in 1512

   2. Julius Caesar, in 54BC

   3. Someone in China, about 2,000 years ago

   4. William the Conqueror, in the year 1070

5. Isaac, 8, asks: why do people fart?

   1. To get rid of excess air in the digestive system

   2. To scare people away

   3. To make other people laugh

   4. To say hello

Solutions

1:C - Historians don’t know exactly when spoons were invented, but they have found evidence of spoons made from wood, ivory and stone from Ancient Egypt, from around 1000BC., 2:D - The process of a cell making its double is called “mitosis”. In mitosis, the new cell (called the daughter cell) is genetically identical to the cell it came from (the parent cell). Every one of us started life as a single cell that divided over and over again through the process of mitosis., 3:B - Geese grow feathers out of pores or little holes on the surface of their skin. When the feathers are plucked, this leaves little bumps on the skin. When humans get cold, our skin looks the same, with lots of little bumps!, 4:C - We think the first form of football began in China about 2,000 years ago, where players had to kick a leather ball into a goal., 5:A - When we swallow food, water and saliva, we also swallow a little bit of air. This air builds up in the digestive system, along with the gases created when we digest food. The body needs to release the air and gases by farting (and burping!).

Scores

1. 5 and above.

2. 4 and above.

3. 3 and above.

4. 2 and above.

5. 0 and above.

6. 1 and above.

Molly Oldfield hosts Everything Under the Sun, a weekly podcast answering children’s questions, out now as a book.

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